Harambee Stars will play two friendly matches in Antalya, Turkey. Kenya will first come up against Equatorial Guinea on November 14th at the Emir Complex Stadium, before taking on Senegal on November 18th at the Mardan Sports Complex.
However, while naming the squad for the build-up matches, coach Benni McCarthy omitted the name of Olunga. His omission drew a lot of reactions amongst Kenyans, who wondered why a fit Olunga was being left out.
The towering Olunga has a target to achieve with Harambee Stars. With 34 goals for the national team, he is just one goal shy of the record held by William Ouma. His inclusion in the squad, could have given him a good opportunity to break the mark.
McCarthy doesn’t deserve to leave Olunga out
Oliech, who became Kenya’s second all-time goalscorer, behind Ouma (35 goals), with 34 goals before retiring from international football in 2016, has criticised the bench led by McCarthy insisting Olunga can only be dropped from the squad when he retires.
“Olunga deserves to be in the Harambee Stars squad,” said Oliech. “The coach doesn’t deserve to leave Olunga out because he is the leading captain, and best striker for Kenya.
“Until Olunga says I have retired, it is when he should be left out of the squad. Having Olunga in the squad, and with the experience he has, will motivate the young players in the team.”
Oliech, who while in his youth career, went for trials with Ligue 1 side Marseille, further wondered why experienced players were left out of the Turkey bound team. Harambee Stars departed for Turkey on Thursday.
“It is unfortunate Kenya is going to Turkey without experienced players, even the young players will feel burdened with the opportunity of playing minus experienced players guiding them,” explained Oliech, who turned professional in 2003 playing for Al-Arabi in Qatar.
“If you have experienced players in your team, it is not necessary they start a game, they can come from the bench and make a huge impact, and by doing so it will be a big motivation for the young players.
“This will motivate the young players, because they need to learn from someone, and that someone is an experienced player. So, for me, I still believe Olunga is part and parcel of the national team, and should not be ignored.”
Oliech, who after Al-Arabi signed for Nantes, and went on to play for AJ Auxerre, Ajaccio, Dubai CSC, and Gor Mahia before hanging his boots, concluded: “In the next two to three years, Olunga deserves to play for Kenya, until he says no, I can’t run anymore, it is my time to retire, that is when we will accept.”
Speaking before Kenya departed for Turkey, assistant coach Vasili Manousakis explained the reason for axing Olunga. He said: “We gave some guys a little time off, Collins Shichenje, and of course skipper Michael Olunga, so that was the thinking behind their names missing out.
“I know when you look over those players that are stepping up, we had to refresh the team, and suddenly have done it with a crop of youngsters.”
He added: “We needed to freshen things up, some of those changes there have been a lot of niggles, a lot of injuries, Adam Wilson, and Job Ochieng, and who else… a little bit of Manzour Suleiman to protect him, Vincent Harper, Timothy Ouma, once I start going through all those players, you know we are a little bit off the back foot.
“But it is a good opportunity for the boys coming in with absolutely no pressure, because it is friendly, and it gives them a test of playing senior football against some of the best opponents on the continent, so that is the objective, to give them a test, and see how they respond.”
The two build-up matches come just a month after Kenya played their last 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Burundi and Ivory Coast. Harambee Stars defeated the Swallows of Burundi 1-0 away before losing 3-0 against the African champions.
